Waiting For You
by xJanzx
Summary: It's Xmas in Walford - what does this day have in store for Ronnie and Jack?
1. Chapter 1

**Waiting For You**

Ronnie stifled a deep yawn, covering her mouth with a hand and trying to keep her eyes open as everyone sat around the dinner table in the bar of the Vic, talking and laughing and enjoying the merriment of the day. "You tired?" Jack asked, leaning over in his seat so he could take a closer look at her face.

"A little," she replied honestly, having learnt that there was no point in trying to lie to her husband about how she was feeling, he could see straight through her even as the words left her mouth.

"Maybe we should head home?" He suggested, taking Ronnie's hand and giving it a gentle tug.

But she shook her head. "In a bit, yeah? I want to stay for a little longer," Ronnie replied, giving Jack her best smile, knowing that there was no way he'd be able to turn her down when she used it on him.

Jack chuckled to himself, smiling broadly and shaking his head a little. "You know that's not fair."

"What's not?" Ronnie asked, acting as though she had no idea what Jack was talking about.

"Don't act the innocent, you know what," he responded, bringing her hand to his lips and pressing a tender kiss into her skin.

"Oi you two, none of that at the table – you're gonna put me off me turkey," Phil stated, his voice gruff but jovial.

Ronnie scoffed, pointedly looking at her cousin's expanding waistline. "Didn't think anything could put you off food," she quipped.

"First time for everything, ain't there?" Phil replied, spearing a roast potato on his fork before biting into it.

Ronnie rolled her eyes, but Jack didn't remove his hand from hers. "Oi, leave the newlyweds alone, Philip," Roxy shouted across the table, throwing a Christmas cracker toy at Phil.

Her sister laughed as Phil ducked, the pink plastic toy narrowly missing his bald head. Ronnie ran a hand over her swollen stomach, feeling her unborn child aim a kick at her kidney. Although it was uncomfortable, she didn't wince. There was nothing about this pregnancy that she wouldn't love, nothing that she would complain about – not the morning sickness, or the backache or the constant need for Jack's touch; not that that was something she would ever complain about.

"He kicking again?" Jack asked, leaning close and placing a hand on the top of Ronnie's stomach.

She nodded, before saying: "How do you know we're having a son?"

"Yes, you might be having another 'Mitchell' girl," Glenda added her two cents to the conversation, looking on as her eldest daughter glowed with happiness.

"'Branning' girl," Ronnie corrected without breaking eye contact with her husband. _We took so long to get here, to share a surname, I'm not giving it up for anything._

"Of course, 'Branning'," Glenda conceded, picking up her wine glass and taking a long sip.

"Take it easy, yeah mum?" Roxy said out of the corner of her mouth, watching the way Glenda was downing her glass as though it was water.

"Oh relax, Roxanne – it's only a bitta wine. Anyway, it's Christmas, if now isn't the time to let loose, when is?" Glenda raised her shoulders in a shrug and took a pointed sip from her glass, whilst Roxy simple shook her head.

_Anyone would think she was the child and me and Ron were the mum._ Roxy felt a bubble of excitement forming in the pit of her stomach. _Wow – Ronnie's going to have a baby soon. Only a few weeks left until her due date . . . she's going to be a mum._ _Ronnie's gonna be a mum._

"Mmm," Roxy said, no longer tuning into what her mother was saying, instead looking to Ronnie and Jack who seemed lost in a world of their own. She watched as Ronnie tilted her head slightly, listening intently to what her husband was saying, their fingers entwined and resting on her stomach, where their baby was growing.

Pushing her chair back from the table, Ronnie stood up. Jack frowned in concern, almost immediately following her movement and not releasing her hand. "Ron?" He asked, a look of terror flitting over his face.

"I'm fine," she reassured him, even as her stomach vigorously fluttered. "I just really need the toilet."

Jack let out a visible sigh of relief, nodding his head and returning to his seat. "Okay."

Phil and Shirley chuckled from the opposite end of the table, amused by how jumpy Jack was.

Running a hand across the bottom of her stomach, Ronnie cleared her throat, a strange feeling spreading through her lower body.

"Ronnie?" Roxy called out to her sister, glimpsing the unsure look on Ronnie's face.

"Jack?"

"Hmm?"

"My waters have broken."


	2. Chapter 2

Jack stopped, his body frozen in time for a briefest of moments. Slowly, he turned, looking up at Ronnie who was standing beside him. "Your waters . . .?"

Ronnie nodded her head, giving him a sheepish smile. "Yeah."

Shirley put down her fork, making it clatter against her plate. "Well, that's me done with the turkey."

"And me," Phil added, pushing his plate away, a nauseas look on his face.

"The baby's . . .?" He didn't the finish the sentence, the words lying flat on his tongue and refusing to tumble into the air around them.

Once again, Ronnie nodded. "Yes, the baby's coming."

Suddenly, it was as though someone had plugged an IV of electricity into Jack's veins, he jumped up from his seat and began to pat down his suit jacket, looking for his car keys. "Keys, keys, keys," he mumbled, frantically looking for them.

Ronnie looked at him, amused. _I should tell him that it'll probably be hours before this little one arrives._ But she said nothing, instead watching as he rushed around like a headless chicken looking for car keys and phones and keys to the flat where Ronnie's overnight bag was.

"Okay, Jack – you go grab Ronnie's bag," Glenda said, standing up and taking charge of the situation. _Honestly, this isn't his first baby – he should be less panicked than this. Mind you, it is his first with Ronnie. . .and after everything they've been through together, it's understandable I guess._

"Jack – you're in no state to drive. Roxy – where are your car keys?"

Roxy scoffed. "You are _not_ driving my car."

Glenda rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. "Not me," she began. "You, you can drive them to the hospital," she explained, using a hand to gesture between her youngest daughter and Ronnie and Jack.

"Oh right, I knew that."

"What d'you say, Rox?" Ronnie asked, putting out a hand for her sister to take. "You wanna come with?"

Roxy giggled, turning into a little kid that had just been asked by their cooler, older sister to go out with her and her friends. She nodded her head eagerly and took up Ronnie's hand, giving it a tight squeeze.

"Okay," Jack said firmly, nodding his head. "We should go."

But Ronnie frowned. "If you think I am going to hospital in wet leggings, you have another think coming, Jack Branning."

Jack groaned aloud, the tips of his fingers massaging his forehead, whilst Ronnie and Roxy simply giggled to themselves. "Come on, you can borrow something of mine," Roxy stated, gently leading her sister through the back doors of the pub and up the stairs to her bedroom.

Jack shook his head in disbelief. "It's fine, Jack – babies have a habit of taking a while to get here, you'll still have plenty of time and if it makes Ronnie feel more comfortable, then she should change. Anyway, you go get her bag and the girls will meet you in the car, okay?"

"Yeah," Jack mumbled, torn. He knew that Ronnie needed her bag, but that would mean leaving her and that was the last thing he wanted to do right now. She was his wife and she was having his baby. How could he leave, even if it was only for a few minutes?

"Jack – she's fine," Glenda insisted. "Run to the flat if that gets you there and back quicker, but get the bag. Roxy is with her and walking a little will ease her discomfort. Now, go!" She shooed him away with her hands, waiting until he had sighed and left the Vic before rushing up the stairs to her two girls.

_Ronnie's having a baby. I'm going to be a grandmother again._ The excitement was almost overwhelming as Glenda stood at the ajar door, watching as Roxy helped Ronnie into a pair of black leggings. A thread of content happiness wound it's way around her heart. _Look at them, how they love each other. My girls._

She saw Ronnie flinch in pain and grab hold of her stomach, doubling over as a contraction gripped her body. Glenda frantically rushed into the room, taking hold of Ronnie's hand. "It's okay, sweetie," she said, pushing back Ronnie's hair from her face. "Just take a breath, breathe through it."

"Mum," Ronnie whimpered, squeezing down on Glenda's hand.

"It's okay, it's okay darling, just breathe through it and it'll pass soon."

"It's okay, Ron, you're doing good," Roxy encouraged, remembering the pain of giving birth to the daughter that slept peacefully in her cot.

Moments later, the tightness in Ronnie's lower body dissipated, the pressure releasing and she was able to stand up straight once again. She took a few steadying breaths, gearing herself up for the walk to the car.

"Come on, Ron – we should go to Jack."

Ronnie nodded and both sisters began to make their way to the bedroom door, before she turned around and addressed Glenda. "Mum – aren't you coming?"


	3. Chapter 3

Ronnie leant back on the hospital bed, her breaths heavy and becomingly increasingly laboured. "This . . . hurts," she panted, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand.

"Ron, don't – you'll pull the IV out," Jack chastised her gently, slipping his fingers through hers and bringing her hand back down on the bed so as to keep her from accidentally loosening the medical equipment that had been inserted into the back of her hand.

Ronnie narrowed her eyes at her husband, trying to be angry at him, but realising that at that moment in time, she just really didn't have the energy for it.

"I know it hurts, Ron-"

"You given birth recently, have you?" Ronnie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, but I did get shot that one time," Jack replied, shrugging his shoulder nonchalantly.

"Unless it was a bullet to your penis, you can't really compare it Jack," she countered, shooting him her best, heart melting smile.

He nodded his head. "True, you're right," Jack conceded, bending down to place a kiss on Ronnie's crown.

"I'm always right," Ronnie told him. "You should know that by now." She let out a small sigh. "How long has it been, Jack?" She asked.

"Twenty five minutes," he answered.

She groaned, sitting forward on the bed and stretching out her, now legging-less, legs. "Is that all? Twenty five minutes since we arrived?"

Tenderly, Jack caressed Ronnie's head with the tips of his fingers, trying to soothe her. "Ron, lie back, get some rest. The doctor says we might be in this for the long haul." Ronnie sighed, but did as she was told and Jack couldn't help but think how amazing a feat that was, Ronnie doing as she was instructed to do.

_Well, that's nothing short of a miracle._ Jack thought to himself as he looked at Ronnie. _She's so knackered already, god I hope she gets some sleep now._

"D'you need anything?" He whispered, his fingers still wound in her long, blonde hair. Jack continued tracing circles on her scalp, knowing how that soothed her. He remembered back to a few months ago, when she had been able to sleep for nights on end. They would go to bed together, but hours later, Jack would wake up and find Ronnie gone. After the initial moment of terror, he would remember that on nights like those, instead of tossing and turning, she would move to sofa. So he would venture out into the living room, his heart heavy as he saw her curled into a ball, lying on the sofa, her eyes staring at the moving pictures on the television screen.

Jack would then sit beside her, placing her head on his lap before running his fingers through the golden web of silk that adorned her head. And eventually, hours later, she would fall asleep.

"You want me to get you a drink or something? Find your mum or Roxy?"

Ronnie shook her head. "No, just stay with me."

"Always," Jack murmured. "Where else would I go?"

Ronnie's lips curved into a smile, her eyelids growing heavier with sleep. "Tell me something," she murmured.

"Like what?" Jack asked, his voice soft and low, as he continued to run his fingers through her hair.

"Anything."

"Anything?"

"Yeah, anything . . . like how you cheated at that poker game." Her voice was quieter, the words taking a little bit longer to take shape.

Jack chuckled, remembering the first showdown between him and his wife. "How d'you know I was cheating?" He asked.

"Because I was cheating too," Ronnie replied, honestly. Three years on and that was the first time she would have admitted that to him. _Eh, whatever, I'm having his baby – he can't really hold it against me, can he?_

"I knew it, I _knew_ you were cheating," he said, triumphantly.

"You were cheating too, don't forget that," she quipped, cutting him down to size quickly and effectively.

"Oh yeah? How d'you know that?"

"Nobody's that lucky."

"No?" Jack enquired, kissing Ronnie's forehead. "From where I'm standing, I'm about as lucky as anyone can get."


	4. Chapter 4

Ronnie gasped, the breath pummelled from her lungs as she doubled over in pain, another contraction gripping her body in a vice like hold. "Okay, Ronnie, breathe like we showed you," the midwife instructed as a male doctor placed the bottom folds of the hospital blanket on Ronnie's knees.

"I'm _trying_ to breathe," Ronnie retorted, even as the breath stuck in her throat.

"Just like I showed you, Ronnie," the midwife repeated, demonstrating the short shallow breaths there were supposedly meant to help with the labour.

Ronnie looked to her husband, her eyes shooting daggers. "If she tells me to breathe _one_ more time-"

"It's okay darling, it's okay," Jack soothed, pushing the damp locks of hair back from her face. "Just think that in a few hours, we'll be able to meet our baby."

Ronnie grimaced as she felt a latex covered hand push down on her skin. "I'm afraid, it might very well be longer than a few hours."

"What?" She exclaimed, trying to summon the energy to be angry but simply lying back on her pillows once again.

"You're only three centimetres dilated, I'm afraid," the doctor informed them, standing up from the stool at the foot of Ronnie's bed and taking off his gloves before throwing them in the bin. "It'll be a while yet."

Ronnie groaned. "Three centimetres, it's been six hours," Jack stated, an edge of worry lacing his voice. _She's already so tired._ He thought to himself, wishing that there was a way to leach the pain from Ronnie's body and take it in his own.

The doctor simply nodded his head. "Every labour is different, you just have to wait." 

"That's easy for you to say," Ronnie snapped tiredly, trying to ease the knot of frustration she could feel in her chest.

"We'll see about sorting out an epidural, that will make you more comfortable."

"Yeah, okay," Ronnie replied, dismissively. This wasn't the first time she had given birth, she knew she could survive the agony, after all there, she had survived the worst pain of all. She watched as the doctor gave them a brief smile before telling the midwife something and then leaving the room.

Lifting her head, Ronnie looked at the worried expression on Jack's face. Reaching out a hand, she gently placed it on his cheek, the side of her thumb stroking the smooth skin that would no doubt be stubbled by the time they left with their newborn baby the next day.

"Ron," he murmured her name.

She smiled at him, through the exhaustion and the discomfort, she smiled. "I'm fine," she said, her voice light and free of the acute pain that was already beginning in her lower stomach. "Except your child refuses to hurry up and come out so we can meet them."

Jack let out a small chuckle, squeezing the hand Ronnie had laid across his face. "That's how I know we're having a girl – she's gonna be a nightmare as a teenager, isn't she?"

Ronnie giggled, imagining a brunette version of herself as a young adult. "Oh god – don't let Roxy talk her into dyeing her hair, okay?" She told him, remembering how for one weekend of her life she was ginger after Roxy had promised that she would be a 'gorgeous, chestnut brunette'.

Jack scoffed. "She's _your_ sister – only you can control her." He felt Ronnie's fingers hold onto his tightly. "Ron?"

"I'm fine," she said softly, closing her eyes as she concentrated on conjuring up the image of their baby's face; that being the only thing that could distract her from the anguish she was feeling.

Dipping his head, Jack kissed Ronnie's clammy forehead before drawing back and holding onto both of her hands. "We should probably think about getting a bigger place," he told her, whispering the words so that it was only the two of them in a world of their own. "Not now, in the Spring, once it's not so cold. With a few extra bedrooms to fill with brothers and sisters for this little one. And a garden. It should have a garden."

"With swings," Ronnie added, her body leaning slightly to the left, towards Jack, craving his touch and needing to feel his skin against hers.

"Yes, with swings," Jack agreed, his heart swollen with admiration and anticipation, but most of all, with an overwhelming sense of love that he knew nothing could ever diminish.


	5. Chapter 5

"Ronnie, that doctor is so HOT!" Roxy exclaimed in a whisper to her older sister, who simply rolled her eyes in reply.

_Trust Roxy to be scouting for potential boyfriends when I'm trying to give birth._

"Ooh, and that one too," Roxy said, in hushed tones. The doctor that was writing in Ronnie's chart looked up at the sisters and Roxy smiled back at him, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "I've always wanted to see the inside of an on call room. Excuse me," she told her sister before stalking towards the doctor.

Ronnie simply shook her head and inwardly chuckled at her sister's brazenness. _Not that that's something new – she's always been like that, even when she was a toddler._ Ronnie watched as Roxy fiddled with a lock of her hair, twirling it around her index finger as she looked up at the doctor through her eyelashes. Roxy giggled, smiling broadly at her next prey.

Ronnie sucked in a sharp breath, her left hand clutching her lower abdomen. Immediately, Roxy was by her sister's side, holding onto her hand tightly. "Ron? You okay?"

"This baby . . . wants to . . . kill me!" Ronnie replied through her held breath, squeezing hard on Roxy's hand. "Where the hell is Jack?" She cried out as another contraction began to recede. "And why isn't this labour going faster?"

"It's okay, Ron – it's okay," Roxy tried to comfort her older sister.

"No, it's not!" Ronnie snapped, before looking at Roxy apologetically.

"Jack's just gone to grab a coffee and the labour is taking this long because . . . because," Roxy faltered, looking to the young doctor that she had just been flirting with. _We could be playing 'Doctors and Nurses' right now._

"It's just a waiting game, Ronnie – the labour will progress at a rate that's dictated by the baby."

"Great," Ronnie grumbled, sighing dramatically with exhaustion and frustration. _Ten hours, it's been. Ten hours of labour. When I was giving birth to Danielle, it didn't seem this long. If anything, I wanted that to go on, to stretch for hours so I could keep her with me for a few moments longer. But this time . . . this time, I just want to meet my baby._

She felt Roxy stroke her hand before the contact ceased as her little sister followed the doctor out of the delivery suite. Lying back onto the several pillows, Ronnie blew her fringe out of her face. Placing both hands on her swollen stomach, Ronnie looked down at it. "Come on sweetie, don't you want to meet mummy and daddy? We've been waiting a long time for you – a _really_ long time. There are so many people that can't wait to meet you – your grandparents and Aunty Roxy and Amy and . . ."

Ronnie stopped, closing her eyes. She took a deep breath, fending off the wave of emotion that threatened to engulf her. She so desperately wanted to add 'your sisters' to the end of the list, but she couldn't. It wasn't possible.

"You know, you didn't want to come out either."

Ronnie opened her eyes, looking to her mother as she entered the birthing suite and sat down on the chair beside the bed. "What?"

Glenda smiled, looking at her daughter. "Thirty six hours of labour. You didn't want to budge, you were perfectly happy to stay where you were."

"Really?" Ronnie asked. She hadn't heard this before, hadn't known anything about herself as an infant.

Glenda nodded her head, her short blonde hair bouncing around the curve of her chin. "Yes." She reached out a hand and laid it over Ronnie's, the act simple yet conveying the progress they had made as mother and daughter. "You were born when you were ready, just like this little one will be."


	6. Chapter 6

Ronnie screamed as another contraction tore through her, her wails painting the walls of the delivery room. "I can't do this," she cried out between each gasp of breath.

Jack tenderly pushed back her hair from her damp face, cupping her chin in his strong hands. "Yes, you can," he insisted. "You can do this, Ronnie. You _can_." His voice was adamant and sure, everything that she wasn't.

"I want to, but I can't Jack, I can't. It hurts too much," she whimpered with the agony, too tired to try and express it in any other form.

The delivery was coming close to nineteen hours now and whilst Jack had been running to and from the waiting room to update Roxy and Glenda, he had seen doctors hovering outside Ronnie's room. The words 'emergency c-section' had been bandied about and although they told him it was the safest option if the baby started to become distressed, Jack knew the safest option was for Ronnie to deliver as quickly as possible.

"But just think, Ron – think about our baby. Soon, you'll be able to hold them and give them a name. We can name them, Ron."

"A name?" Ronnie whispered, her thoughts instantly drifted back to Christmas Day last year. Jack had lain beside her on a hospital bed, his body curled protectively around hers, his hands on her stomach.

"I named her," Ronnie had whispered into the darkness, her fingers wrapping around Jack's, holding onto something solid and real. "I shouldn't have done."

"What was it?" Jack had asked, his heart breaking with each word Ronnie had spoken.

"Isabelle. She was going to be named 'Isabelle'."

Jack nodded his head, knowing what his words had meant to his wife. "Yes, we can name them. We can hold them and name them and take them home. Yeah?"

Ronnie blinked back the tears that had formed in her eyes, swallowing the lump in her throat. "Oh, GOD!" Ronnie clamped down on Jack's hand, squeezing his fingers as tightly as possible. She screamed again, her body feeling as though someone was ripping through it.

"Ron, push down, okay? Push down with each contraction," Jack told her. "Okay, just push down Ron."

Ronnie felt her chin digging into her chest, but that was nothing compared to what her lower body was experiencing. She wanted to stop, to take a breath and just stop, but her child was battling to get out of her and she so desperately wanted to see them.

"That's it, Ronnie – just keep pushing down. The head's nearly out."

"Come on, Ron – you can do this. Just one more push, just one more, darling," Jack urged, holding onto her hand tightly and placing a kiss on her clammy forehead.

Without a word, Ronnie bore down into herself, feeling every slight movement and fibre of pain run through her entire body. "Come on, Ronnie, one more push to get the shoulders out and then that's it, okay? One big push, Ronnie, a BIG one," the midwife instructed, her voice energising and encouraging her patient.

"I'm so tired," Ronnie whispered, her chest heaving with the exertion of labour, but Jack wouldn't allow her to stop. Not now, when she was so close to meeting her child.

"Ronnie, come on darling. You can do this, just one more push. That's all you need."

"You said that before-"

"I know, darling, I know – but you're so close now. We're so close to having our baby."

Ronnie could feel the tears of pain and frustration running down her cheeks before she could even begin to stop them. "Oh sweetheart," Jack murmured, cupping her face in his hands. "You can do this, I know you can. I know because I have seen you do so many extraordinary things, things other people don't have the capacity to do. But I've seen you do those things Ron, I've seen how much love is in your heart and this baby, _our_ baby, has spent the last nine months feeling that love from inside of you and all they want is to see you, to finally meet you-"

Ronnie cried out once again, her fingers crushing Jack's hand. Jack's eyes glazed over with tears, but not because of the pressure to his hand, it was because of her. Ronnie, his wife. She was in pain and there was nothing he could do to lessen it.

Ronnie pushed down, feeling as though her body was being torn in two and a few moments later a high pitched cry was heard. "It's a boy," the midwife told them all as the umbilical cord was cut and the newborn was swaddled in blankets.

"A boy?" Ronnie asked, crying and laughing at the same time.

"A boy," Jack murmured, bending down to kiss his wife. "Thank you, thank you," he whispered, the words vibrating between their parted lips.

Ronnie lifted a tired hand and stroked Jack's cheek. "I love you," she told him as the midwife walked to the side of the bed and placed their newborn son in Ronnie's arms.

She let out a small gasp, the tips of her fingers tracing the edge of her son's, now clean, face. "Look at what we made, Jack," Ronnie murmured, completely entranced with their baby.

Jack nodded his head, blinking back the tears. "Look at what you did. Our son. Our baby boy."

The baby opened his eyes at the same time his mouth opened in an 'o', a wail ready to fall out of it. But as he looked up into his parents' faces, the cry didn't come, as though he completely forgot about it.

Jack placed a secure arm around Ronnie and looked down at his little family before tenderly stroking his son's soft cheek and watching as Ronnie stared at their son in awe.

"Hi, baby. We've been waiting for you."

**THE END**


End file.
